Objective Events

This activity is like a stroll through the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C., as well as through Texas museums in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, Abilene, Canyon, Orange, McAllen, and El Paso, as all prints are reproductions of paintings from these galleries. Students are challenged to identify the artist and the work and answer questions about the art and the artists found in the Art Smart Bulletin, published every other year by TuneIn.  • Grade levels are combined for competition.

Students compete as individuals, awarded by grade level, to identify composers and selections from some of the world's best known classics. Contestants have approximately 30 seconds to write answers as they hear 15-second segments of the music in competition. Students also take a 20-item multiple choice/true-false test over concepts found in Arts Education IDEAS current year PSIA Music Memory Student Handbook. Multiple teaching resources also accompany the bulletin.  The PSIA version should be purchased through the "PSIA Academic Study Materials Order Form."
• Grade levels are combined for grades 3, 4 and 5 competition and for grades 6 and 7 competition.

In a comprehensive, multiple choice, 30-minute math test, students are challenged beyond their grade levels in a variety of general math questions, including algebraic equations introduced in grades 6-8.

Contestants find high-speed solutions to math problems in this exciting and challenging 10-minute contest in mental mathematics.  • Grade levels 4 and 5 are combined for competition, and grade levels 6, 7, and 8 are combined for competition.

A thinker's delight, this 30-minute contest develops mathematical reasoning and knowledge and requires application of problem solving skills toward realistic problems. Any calculator that the student has mastered may be used in competition. • Grade levels are combined for competition.

Earth, Life, and Physical Science information found in current textbooks, plus items from current science publications list, are tested in this 30-minute, multiple choice contest, which usually consists of 50 test questions.

This event is designed to provide students with experience in obtaining information from visual sources, a valuable life skill. Tests for grades 4-8 include 50 items relating to maps, graphs, & charts needed to answer multiple choice questions derived from the 2008 or newer Nystrom Desk Atlas, or other atlas, which students bring to the contest. • Grades 6-8 tests consist of 25 additional questions over current geographical information, Geographic Bee, and the adopted atlas.

As spelling words are pronounced at approximately five words per minute, contestants may either write or print each word. While 20% of the test words come from outside sources, 80% come from the PSIA Spelling List. A different list is published annually for the three grade groups: grades 2/3, grades 4/5, and grades 6-8.  All grades compete separately, • except grades 7 and 8, which are combined for competition.

SAT preparation skills, including word usage, reading comprehension, and analogies, are honed through this challenging multiple choice, 30-minute contest.  • Grade levels 7 and 8 are combined for competition.  Grades 5 and 6 are graded separately.

Students use all elements of the dictionary and learn practical techniques for extracting and applying resource information.  A dictionary may be used by contestants in the contest. • Grade levels 4 and 5  are combined for competition, and grade levels 6, 7 and 8 are combined for competition

Good listening skills enhance any academic area, and the study materials are useful for all students. Contestants may take notes as they listen to the contest script on CD, and then use these notes as they answer objective test questions in 10 minutes.  • Grade levels 4 and 5 are combined for competition, and grade 6, 7, and 8 are combined for competition.